Encounters Wth Parapsychology

McConnell, R.A. (Ed.)

This nontechnical anthology was prepared for "educated laymen and busy scientists" (p. 1). Rather than attempting to present direct evidence of psi¯which McConnell notes is best presented in the form of journal articles and monographs¯this book is for those who want to understand the scientific nature of parapsychology without working their way through debates over the evidence. The editor, a physicist who has been engaged in parapsychological work for 38 years, has made selections from the works of some of the best minds to have considered the evidence for psi and the importance of parapsychology. He describes Encounters Wth Parapsychology "as a collection of personal encounters with parapsychology by outstanding people" (p. 2). The 16 selections are arranged in order of publication, starting with William Barrett's "On Some Phenomena Associated with Abnormal Conditions of Mind" (1876) and ending with McConnell's own "The Resolution of Conflicting Beliefs About the ESP Evidence" (1977). The other authors, and the dates of their contributions, are William James (1901), Walter Franklin Prince (1915), William McDougall (1920), Upton Sinclair (1930), L.L. Vasiliev (1962), Rosalind Heywood (1964), Gardner Murphy (1953), Louisa E. Rhine (1971), J.B. Rhine (1967), Henry Margenau (1965), J.G. Pratt (1973), Charles Honorton (1978), Ray Hyman (1980), and Robert G. Jahn (1979). The editor provides an introduction for each selection and also contributes a "Postscript" in which he suggests that what the world needs most is "an empiricaly consistent theory...of the nature of consciousness," and "that seed facts for a scientific explanation of consciousness have been found in ... parapsychology" (p. 198). A previously published paper by McConnell and T.K Clark, "Training, Belief, and Mental Conflict Within the Parapsychological Association" is presented as an Appendix. McConnell also supplies an "Annotated Sociohistorical Bibliography of Parapsychology" of 22 items, 15 his own. There is a Name Index, consisting of persons and publication titles, and a subject index.